Cultural Heritage and Climate Change

This briefing features archaeologist Marcy Rockman discussing the critical but often overlooked role of archaeology and cultural heritage in climate change response. Rockman argues that the U.S. approach to heritage is fragmented and underfunded compared to natural resource management, leading to a lack of social science integration in major climate assessments. She proposes the creation of a federal Climate Heritage Coordination Office and increased NGO engagement to better utilize historical data on sustainability and human adaptation to inform modern climate strategies.

• Archaeology provides unique data on long-term sustainability that other scientific approaches cannot, such as evidence from Lake Myvatn in Iceland showing sustainable waterfowl harvesting operating on a "millennial scale" since the 10th century.
• The U.S. government's approach to managing cultural heritage is fragmented, with responsibilities split across the National Park Service (NPS), the Smithsonian, the National Science Foundation, and the State Department, which limits the capacity to address climate change intersections.
• There is a significant disparity in funding and staffing between natural and cultural resources within the National Park Service; from 1995 to 2008, funding and staffing for natural resources increased by 71% and 31% respectively, while cultural resources decreased by 19% and 27% respectively.
• Major U.S. climate response frameworks, such as the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) and the National Climate Assessments (NCAs), suffer from a lack of social science integration. For example, in the NCA 4 chapter on adaptation, none of the 20 authors had primary training in social sciences, anthropology, or archaeology.
• Climate change impacts on heritage include visible threats like sea level rise and storm surge, but also less visible threats such as rising brackish water tables saturating sites from the bottom up, as seen at Jamestown Island, and intense wildfires shattering artifacts in the Southwest.
• To improve climate response, Rockman proposes four solutions: establishing a named federal Climate Heritage Coordination Office, linking archaeology and heritage in climate research and investment, fostering climate heritage demonstration projects, and expanding NGO attention to heritage.
• Scotland is cited as a leader in cultural stewardship and climate adaptation, specifically through the Scottish Coastal Archaeology and the Problem of Erosion (SCAPE) project, which utilizes accessible databases and citizen science to monitor coastal heritage.

APA

Environmental and Energy Study Institute (2020). Cultural Heritage and Climate Change. https://www.eesi.org/files/transcript_041520.pdf

Chicago

Environmental and Energy Study Institute. Cultural Heritage and Climate Change. 2020. https://www.eesi.org/files/transcript_041520.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Environmental and Energy Study Institute |title=Cultural Heritage and Climate Change |date=April 2020 |url=https://www.eesi.org/files/transcript_041520.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{environmentalandenergystudyinstitute2020cultural, author = {{Environmental and Energy Study Institute}}, title = {{Cultural Heritage and Climate Change}}, institution = {Environmental and Energy Study Institute}, year = {2020}, month = apr, url = {https://www.eesi.org/files/transcript_041520.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }